Wallace, alleged accomplice of Aaron Hernandez, held on $500,000 bail in Fall River court

A key witness in prosecutors’ case against Aaron Hernandez has changed his story to say the former Patriots tight end was alone with Odin Lloyd when Lloyd was shot dead on June 17. Carlos Ortiz previously told police — at least six times — that he stayed in a rental car when Hernandez...

A key witness in prosecutors’ case against Aaron Hernandez has changed his story to say the former Patriots tight end was alone with Odin Lloyd when Lloyd was shot dead on June 17.

Carlos Ortiz previously told police — at least six times — that he stayed in a rental car when Hernandez, 23, and Ernest Wallace, 44, went outside with Lloyd, 27, in the North Attleborough Industrial Park, where Lloyd’s bullet-riddled body was found the next day.

Meanwhile, Wallace’s attorney, David Meier, said a white towel matching one that Ortiz, 27, was seen wearing that night was found within 5 feet of Lloyd’s body.

Those details emerged during bail arguments Thursday in Fall River Superior Court for Wallace, who is charged as an accessory after the fact to murder.

Meier said prosecutors did not present evidence that Wallace — who split his time this year traveling between Connecticut, Massachusetts and Florida — acted as an accessory to murder, or that he was a flight risk.

“What is the evidence that you heard today that Mr. Hernandez himself even committed a murder? And what is the evidence that Mr. Wallace even knew about it or assisted Mr. Hernandez in getting away or not being detected?” asked Meier, who requested a “reasonable” $10,000 cash bail.

However, Superior Court Judge E. Susan Garsh set the same $500,000 cash bail that Wallace — who was described by prosecutors Thursday as Hernandez’s right-hand man — has been held on since his original arraignment three months ago in Attleboro District Court.

Bristol County District Attorney Samuel Sutter said he was pleased with the judge’s bail order, which also requires that Wallace surrender his passport, report to probation weekly and be fitted with a GPS bracelet if he posts bail.

Sutter also said he was “not concerned” that Ortiz — who has been cooperating with investigators — has now changed his story to implicate Hernandez as the lone gunman. During bail arguments, Assistant District Attorney Pat Bomberg said Lloyd “was murdered by Aaron Hernandez,” but he declined to elaborate after the hearing.

Prosecutors also declined to comment on the white towel reportedly found near Lloyd’s body. Meier also declined to comment after the bail hearing.

Lloyd was standing when he was shot, and again while he was lying on the ground. Police found five .45-caliber shell casings and at least two projectiles near his body, prosecutors said.

Ortiz — who is charged in Attleboro District Court with illegally carrying a firearm — has not been indicted, and he was never summonsed to appear before the grand jury, which over 20 days during the summer heard testimony from 72 witnesses and examined 100 exhibits, including video surveillance footage and cellphone records.

The grand jury indicted Hernandez with murder and various firearms offenses. Hernandez — who is being held without bail — has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

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In presenting the prosecution’s case against Wallace, Bomberg detailed the familiar timeline of events that began before midnight on June 16, when Hernandez is said to have summoned Ortiz and Wallace from Bristol, Conn., to his North Attleborough home to deal with Lloyd, 27, with whom Hernandez had reportedly had a disagreement during an incident a few nights earlier at a Boston nightclub.

Bomberg said video surveillance footage shows Wallace, Ortiz and Hernandez picking up Lloyd at his Dorchester home around 2:32 a.m. on June 17. Surveillance footage shows their vehicle — a Nissan Altima — entering the industrial park around 3:20 a.m. About five minutes later, they are seen leaving the park, without Lloyd.

A few minutes after they left the park, prosecutors said surveillance footage shows the trio arriving at Hernandez’s North Attleborough home, and Hernandez handling what appeared to be a .45-caliber handgun. After arriving at the house, Ortiz said he was ordered to retrieve a .22-caliber handgun from inside the rental car to turn over to Hernandez.

Prosecutors said Wallace bought two .22-caliber handguns in Florida that he brought to Massachusetts. One handgun was found in a wooded area between Hernandez’s home and the industrial park. The other was found underneath a car outside a Providence nightclub last spring. A man matching Wallace’s description discarded the gun after an incident where several football fans taunted Hernandez.

Meanwhile, the alleged murder weapon — a .45-caliber handgun — has not been found.

Bomberg explained Wallace’s relationship with Hernandez, telling the court that Wallace — also known as “Hobo” for being quasi-homeless — became Hernandez’s “right-hand man” earlier this year when a Florida man, Alexander Bradley, who previously occupied that role was shot. Bradley is suing Hernandez in Florida state court for shooting his eye out in February.

Wallace, Bomberg said, split his time between Hernandez’s North Attleborough home’s basement and Hernandez’s uncle’s house in Bristol, Conn. Wallace was unemployed, earned money through drug dealing and smoked marijuana laced with PCP, also known as angel dust, prosecutors said.

Wallace and Hernandez were in frequent contact after police investigating Lloyd’s murder contacted Hernandez. Hernandez’s cousin — Tanya Cummings-Singleton, who is accused of refusing to testify before the grand jury — drove Wallace to her husband’s relatives’ home in Georgia. She then bought Wallace a bus ticket to Florida, where he went to his parents’ house in Miramar, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Wallace has four aliases and a criminal record in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Florida that dates back to 1988. His record includes arrests for giving a false name to authorities in Georgia and a failure to appear in a Connecticut court in 1997. He served a state prison sentence in New York for drug offenses, prosecutors said.

Wallace turned himself in after learning about the nationwide warrant for his arrest, said Meier, who told the court that Wallace had “every intention and every incentive” to attend all his court hearings.

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Meier also said that Wallace, an aspiring musician, became an “uncle figure” to Hernandez after caring for the former football star’s late aunt in Connecticut.

Wallace will continue to be held at the Plymouth County House of Correction. He is scheduled to return to court Nov. 8 for a pretrial hearing.
Email Brian Fraga at bfraga@heraldnews.com.